1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an interactive communication apparatus suitable for home use.
2. Description of Related Art
With the spread of personal computers, the gap between people who know how to use computers and those who do not is widening. This widening gap might well be due to the fact that most personal computer applications, in an effort to improve performance, are equipped with so many functions, including those that novice users never learn to use, that they invite confusion in their operation.
Despite the expansion of opportunities to access the internet afforded by advances in broadband and other technologies, in which communication lines are always connected, since there is no personal computer available designed specifically to be usable by virtually anyone, there are people who have been left behind by advances in technology.
For example, attempts to achieve a combined TV phone, answering phone, home security system, shopping center, motion picture distribution and medical consultation center in a single integrated personal computer for home use requires selecting the necessary hardware and software and installing the hardware and the software.
Not only does such construction require specialized knowledge, but also, because post-installment operation differs depending on the individual hardware and software components, the resulting configuration lacks integration and is so complicated that the average user cannot hope to operate it.
In such a situation, mistakes in operation occur and people never learn to use some needed functions because the operation of such functions is too complicated.
Moreover, there is no effective combination of individual functions, and as a result it sometimes happens that it is impossible to acquire needed data smoothly.